Player Ratings: Game 19 | Charlotte Hornets
Player Ratings: Game 19 | Charlotte Hornets
The winning streak ends.
Sometimes all it takes is a quarter of basketball. A run. A sprinkling of possessions. In the grand scheme of things, it’s minute moments that can change a game. Those quarters, runs and possessions can propel a team to a win and they can sink a team into loss territory. Other times, all it takes is a dosage of 3-point shooting. A hot shooting night from deep can make even the unwinnable seem mundanely comfortable and a freezing-cold night can turn a cakewalk into a trip to the pits of hell.
Just ask the Minnesota Timberwolves, they’d know.
The game ends 110-108. The Wolves, even with the maddening inconsistencies that have plagued them this season, have every right to believe they should beat a Charlotte Hornets team missing LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward. Executing it, however, is a different movie entirely. A third-quarter collapse, fueled by missing open looks from deep, and a laugher becomes a funeral.
And that’s exactly how it devolved. As they have so many times this season, Minnesota came out fiercely. They sprayed their firepower around in the first quarter and responded to the few punches thrown by Charlotte in the second quarter with menacing blows of their own. The ball-movement issues seem to have largely dissipated and they’re playing some really stingy defense. Just like it had for long parts of the five-game win streak, things seemed to be clicking.
It just crumbled away like so many flakes of ash. You can mark down the defensive intensity, the late-game rebounding and the general decision-making, but all of that is a wisp of fading smoke compared to the shot-making. The Wolves shoot 8-of-22 (36.4%) from the field and 3-of-12 (25%) from deep in the third quarter and their lead is gone. Then, despite holding the Hornets to 6-of-19 (31.6%) from the field and 1-of-5 (20%) from deep in the fourth quarter, they shoot another miserly 11-of-28 (39.3%) from the field and 1-of-12 (8.3%) from deep as they try to complete an undeserved comeback.
It’s a make-or-miss league. The Wolves missed.
D’Angelo Russell: 8/10
The usual defensive shortcomings were evident — when Jaden McDaniels was seated and he had to take more point-of-attack responsibility especially — and they likely will always act as somewhat of an anchor pulling this ship in the wrong way, but he is finding the rhythm and flow within the offense that this team craves from him. He doesn’t have to be the caped hero, but he can’t be the snarling villain either. Just a regular fucking guy works perfectly.
He just needs to be the connective tissue. The straw that stirs the drink. The shaker that whips this cocktail into an offensive frenzy. He was that in this one. He made tough shots without ever commandeering the offense for his own ego’s sake. It seems he has completely figured out how to dovetail with his French giant while still knowing when to detour dimes around the big man to corner shooters or fling dimes in Karl-Anthony Towns’ direction. And, above all, he seems to be giving much more of a shit.
His warts will remain, but he can cover them when he is doing those things.
Finished with 20 points (66.7% TS), 4 rebounds and 10 assists in 36 minutes — -1.3 net rating.
Anthony Edwards: 7/10
A tale of two sides of the ball.
One, a mesmerizing journey through the shot-making arsenal of a freak. A three-level bone-crusher who has every trick stowed firmly up his sleeve. He misses a few badly and finishes a suboptimal 3-of-10 from deep, but that haul also made up a third of Minnesota’s makes. And he just makes tough ones. He releases building pressure multiple times throughout the night by just being able to nail shots that normal human beings don’t.
Additionally, he is patient and precise with his driving game and he continues to see a major spike in his finishing around the cup. It’s important to remember how seriously special it is to have a 21-year-old who can get you 25 without a bead of sweat leaking from his pores. A multi-dimensional scoring phenom is not something to scoff at.
Unfortunately, that tale transformed into a misadventure of despair and sorrow on the defensive end of the floor. That remains the bugaboo. There were some sweet on-ball plays, but his night was mostly filled with ball-watching, shoddy closeouts and the consistent inability to get through screens. When McDaniels is being whistled relentlessly, Edwards needs to turn up the heat and seer some fuckers. We know he can, we’ve seen him do it, but it was absent in this one.
Finished with 24 points (57.1% TS), 5 rebounds and 4 assists in 37 minutes — +9.6 net rating.
Jaden McDaniels: 4/10
Reverted back to the habits that he had kicked of late. A relapse of sorts. It’s not a backbreaking trait to pick up some fouls. When you’re a defensive hellhound who spends every minute of every game — even the few he got in this one — tearing shreds off would-be scorers, you’re also going to pick up a few whistles along the way.
But, when those occasional whistles turn into a never-ending shriek, all of his otherworldly talents go to waste and all of his newfangled offensive juice seems to leak away. He played just two minutes in the third period and, surprising to fucking nobody, the Wolves were laid to waste. Without him, they lose their perimeter defensive bite and teams find it far too easy to attack the rim in hordes.
Maybe heaping a mountain of defensive responsibility on his foul-prone shoulders is something that the front office needs to be questioned about. Right now, though, there is no doubt of his utmost importance. He needs to stay on the floor.
Finished with 2 points (14.3% TS), 4 rebounds and 2 blocks in 24 minutes — +1.6 net rating.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to